A Life Without Parole
by Ketsuko Kyo
Summary: If I fall and all is lost. No light to lead the way. Remember that all alone is where I belong. –Note: this story contains an OC and thus is slightly AU.-


**AN:** Welcome to the Prologue for **A Life Without Parole**! Here's hoping it works!

The universal language of the One Piece world is Japanese and there will be several un-translated words throughout, they will be in _italics_. Other foreign words will also be in _italics_ and their origin/translation will be specified in the second **AN**. Thoughts will be in '_italics'_ or _(italics)_.

I will be following the MANGA but also referencing the anime for dialogue. Kaizoku-fansubs has an excellent (and consistent) translation. 's bars separate my **ANs** from the story, my time-skip/scene change icon is this: ~o~o~o~o~

Disclaimer: One Piece, its characters, total awesomeness and overall idiocy belong to Oda Eiichiro-sensei. I only own my OC and anything you don't readily recognize.

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**Prologue**

Giddy laughter echoed down the clean streets as children dashed about playing the age old game of "cops & robbers". Two boys had teamed up to dominate the other children quite thoroughly. The group as a whole, however, was still having fun. The slowest of the group, the smallest girl, laughed happily despite the fact that she was falling behind. Eventually she tripped, landing flat on her face with a resounding "_smack"_ just as the group passed an alley.

The girl sat up slowly holding onto her nose with chubby hands as a few drops of blood fell to the ground. Fat tears induced by pain welled up in her bright eyes making the view of her friends blurry. A second later, her eyes glowed with a determined glint as she stood up and hastily wiped the blood from her chin with the back of her hand. Unfortunately it only smeared the warm red liquid up onto her cheek.

A little pain and blood wouldn't stop her from having fun.

A soft chuckle from within the alley startled her and with a yip of surprise she turned to the opening. There within the deep shadows, nearly indistinguishable due to their dark clothing, sat a figure wearing a hooded cloak. The girl took a hasty step back, cautious of the stranger just as she should be. The figure only eyed the child in mild interest from within the dark shadows of their hood.

"A-are you going to eat me?" the girl asked shakily.

Beneath the hood the figure grinned wickedly, the whites of their teeth flashing dangerously, "_Iie_, children aren't ripe enough to eat. I prefer my souls well aged."

The girl frowned at the female's (as the voice was definitely feminine) response. Being a young child, as she was, she couldn't identify if the words were spoken truthfully or jokingly. The dark figure chuckled lightly at the child's confusion. It was good that she didn't just merely accept the words at face value. There had only been one such person that foolishly naïve, once upon a time…

She could just imagine his response: _"How old then?"_

"_Koko de_, use this," the figure spoke softly as she offered a white handkerchief to the child.

The girl eyed the pristine cloth in surprise. It was pure white, a shock coming from someone dressed so darkly. Even her hands were covered by pure black gloves. The child's bright eyes flickered between the figure's hood and the white cloth in their gloved hand. She repeated the glance as she inched closer until quick as a flash (though it was as slow as a lazy lightning bug to the figure) she snatched the handkerchief and used it to wipe the blood from her face. Unfortunately some of it had dried under her nose and couldn't be wiped off with a dry cloth.

The figure said nothing about the dried blood and simply withdrew their gloved hand back into the dark shadows they sat comfortably in. From beneath the darkened shadows of the hood, the figure's eyes regarded the child mildly. With the blood mostly gone from her face she was a rather cute kid.

"_Arigato, ne-san_," the girl smiled as she held out the bloody handkerchief.

The figure eyed the now dirty cloth with amusement. The person stupid enough to hand a starving wolf something that smelled of blood was just asking to be devoured. A grin lit up the figure's hidden face as she took the cloth from the child's hand. She would find someone better to devour later. Children were far too sour to eat, after all.

"What are you doing here anyway, _ne-san?_" the girl asked as she squatted near the opening of the alley.

The brownie points the girl had acquired earlier by being wary were torn away by her current actions. The adults needed to instill more fear into these naïve children. Honestly, one kind gesture and they think they're perfectly safe from harm. Didn't these children realize that there weren't any guardians on this entire block, and if she so desired she could devour them all (sour souls or not) and be gone from the island before anyone even noticed something was wrong?

Truly, the naiveté of the people of this "new world order" was astounding.

Hidden eyes scrutinized the child sitting in the sunlight from the safety of the shadows their owner sat in. All they saw was a normal little girl who was ignorant of the horrors of the "old world order". A smirk stretched the figure's lips, perhaps she should change that.

"I'm here to tell a story," the figure said coyly, "Would you like to hear it?"

"A story?" the girl perked up instantly at the word, "What's it about?"

"Oh, it's a grand tale full of all the great things: friendship, rivalry, suspense, thrill, love, hate, romance, betrayal, action, peace, comedy, horror…" the figure listed with a grin.

The child's eyes grew wider at every word and she eagerly leaned forward. "_HAI!_ I want to hear it!"

"_OI!_" a loud shout suddenly broke through the tranquil spell upon the girl. She fell back onto her bottom with a squeal of surprise. With even wider eyes than before (surprisingly it was possible) she looked over her shoulder to see the other children had returned for her. They had noticed her absence and had turned back to look for her in worry.

"What are you doing?" the oldest boy asked with a worried frown. It was unusual to see an adult on this street, let alone one hiding within the shadows.

The girl quickly shifted into a more comfortable sitting position and with a grin exclaimed: "_Ne-san_ is going to tell a story!"

The boy glanced warily at the dark figure nearly blending in with the shadows and shivered in fear. Even without being able to see her eyes he knew they were trained on his person, he could feel them burning holes in his skin. How the little girl wasn't frightened by the intimidating and unknown figure was baffling.

"Eh, I don't think you really want to-" the boy started hesitantly only to be rudely interrupted.

"It's about _kaizoku_."

The world screeched to a halt as all the children's eyes snapped to the figure lounging carelessly in the alley.

"K-k-k-k…?" the oldest boy stuttered in awe.

Such a word was forbidden to be spoken in this carefully guarded world. If it was, the perpetrator was immediately arrested. Any book that had the word written within its pages had been burned and it had even been removed from the dictionary.

"Do you not want to hear it then?" the figure asked with fake sadness coating her words.

"We want to hear it!" the group chorused as a whole. They were afraid her sadness would stop her from talking. Being children they were unable to tell that she was faking.

Anything that was forbidden was always more fun to listen to, and do.

The figure's satisfied smirk returned full force. Hook, line and sinker: now to taint their blind innocence with the horrible truth…

"Sit down then, and I'll tell you," the figure began blithely, "All stories have a beginning, and this one begins with the death of a certain man."

"It starts with death?" a round eyed child squeaked in fear. "I don't like death, it's scary…"

The figure paused briefly, irritated at being interrupted. "Death is a part of the cycle of life, _kodomo_. It is inevitable for everyone. You will all one day die; be it today, tomorrow or thirty years from now. Death comes for all mortals."

The children were shocked into silence by the figure's harsh words. No one had ever spoken so brazenly to them before, the adults were all so cautious to treat them like porcelain. As a whole the group clumped closer together, their eyes round with fear and awe of the figure. She had become like a god to them with just those few harsh words.

The figure merely sighed, releasing her irritation with the expulsion of air. She had never liked children, they asked too many questions. But then again, certain adults did too. She would only be free of irritation when humans ceased to exist.

"As I was saying," she started again, a slight strain to her voice, "This story begins with the death of a certain man, because without his death a certain boy would not have dreamt of taking his place."

"What was the man's name?" a brave, but still timid, child asked.

The figure paused once more causing the children to hurriedly shush the brave-but-timid child in fear. Really, so many questions… She was beginning to regret offering to tell this story. But this time she let it slide, his name would come out sooner or later anyhow. So she simply answered the question, much to the children's surprise:

"His name was Gold Roger, otherwise known as the _Kaizoku Ō_."

~0~0~0~0~

It had been a hot and sunny day, unfortunately for those gathered in the town square. There were some who pitied the man on the executioner's block and others who thought it fitting that he sweat as he died. The man himself, however, merely thought it a nice day to be outside and enjoy the sunlight.

The uniformed men on either side of him wished there might have been at least one cloud to help block the sun. As it was, they were sweating bullets as they warily watched the man kneeling between them, his hands tied behind his back to prevent his use of them. They were relieved to have finally caught him after years of fruitlessly chasing him. They hoped that with his death today peace would be restored to the world.

They were horribly naïve.

The man grinned at the mass of people, so much like sardines in a can, who had gathered to see him off to his next grand adventure. Some faces he knew to be friends, others enemies. And still countless more he didn't know at all. But they all knew him, after all, he was the most famous man alive right now. And his death would introduce chaos to the world unlike anything the order had seen before.

This was the truth.

So, his grin widening ever so slightly, he called out in a clear voice so that all in the square could hear:

"My wealth and treasures? If you want it, I'll let you have it. Look for it, I left all of it at that place!"

With a grin still affixed to his face, the swords fell to his neck. The great Pirate King's life was ended, but his legacy was only just beginning. Pirates from all over the world began to flock to that ocean, many made it but many more died. So many perished, in fact, that the sea was given a nickname: the Pirate's Graveyard.

However, it wasn't until 22 years after the Pirate King's death that a certain boy finally left home to begin his own adventure. His dream: to become the next Pirate King. He met many people on his mini-adventure to that dangerous sea called the Grand Line. By the time he made it to the entrance he had acquired four crewmates, with grandiose dreams of their own, and a sturdy ship.

And that was where he met her and a totally brand new adventure began.

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**AN:** Japanese translations:_  
__Iie_ – that's incorrect: literal translation / no: rough translation  
_Koko_ _de_ – here  
_Arigato_ – thanks: slang  
_Ne-san_ – sister  
_Hai_ – that's correct: literal translation / yes: rough translation  
_Oi_ – informal hey  
_Kaizoku_ – pirate  
_Kodomo_ – child  
_Ō_ - king

Next update will be when I can. I don't have a specific update schedule for this…


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